- Paper suggests government would have to mirror EU laws on data after Brexit
- Deal would be vital to maintain free exchange of data with European countries
- Experts say failure to securing a data deal would be ‘economically damaging’
Britain could be forced to toe the Brussels line on crucial legislation on privacy and national security for years after Brexit, the government admitted yesterday.
A new position paper said the UK cold be forced to mirror EU laws after it leaves the bloc if it wants to maintain the free exchange of data with European countries.
Data protection is vital for British business, especially those in the digital sector.
The European Commission will have the power to decide whether the UK meets the requirements to allow the free flow of commercially sensitive data after Brexit
Under current arrangements, the European Commission will have the unilateral power to decide whether the UK’s legislative framework is ‘adequate’ for the flow of the commercially valuable data to continue unchecked following EU withdrawal.
Officials have no doubt Britain will meet the ‘adequacy’ test on the date of Brexit, expected in 2019, but that may change if UK legislation on issues like data collection and protection diverges from the EU rulebook in the years to come.
The paper reveals the UK is hoping to persuade Brussels to reach early agreement on an unprecedented new mutual recognition model which would respect Britain’s sovereignty and remove uncertainty over whether it can maintain adequacy status.
The CBI has warned Britain’s multi-billion pound digital economy is ‘at risk of isolation’ as a result of Brexit unless the Government secures a transition agreement avoiding interruptions to the flow of data.
Trade body TechUK has warned that any interruption to cross-border data flows would be ‘economically costly’ to both the UK and the EU
And trade body TechUK has said securing a watertight legal framework for the industry post-Brexit will ‘take time’. Previous adequacy agreements with non-EU countries have taken 18 months or more to conclude.
The new Government document, published ahead of the third round of formal Brexit talks in Brussels next week, acknowledges uncertainty over the future data relationship between the UK and EU ‘may force businesses on both sides to incur unnecessary expense and time in contingency planning or put them under pressure to renegotiate what may be less favourable contractual arrangements’.
It warns any disruption in cross-border data flows would be ‘economically costly’ to both the EU and UK, and new restrictions on the exchange of information would ‘harm both economies’.